Why I Support Obama

On November 6, 2012, I will cast my vote for the next president of the United States. I will be voting for President Obama. In this post, I am asking you vote the same way as I do or to tell you who Jesus would vote for or anything like that. I merely am saying I am voting for Obama and this is why. I think and hope that you look deeply at both candidates and choose the one you think will help the most. America is hurting and we need someone who will stand up for the people and guide us into a better America, an America for all.

I have made it no secret that I support Obama. I have quoted him before in my posts. I have made it no secret that I am a crazy social liberal. I do not apologize for this. I am proud of being a liberal. I believe we need to be strict in regulating big business, but lenient when it comes to individual freedoms. The right to marry whom you want; the right of a woman to choose what she does with her body; the right to privacy; and the right to free health care are all freedoms I am passionately fight for. I support the expenditure of financial resources necessary to accomplish those goals. That might include some difficult decisions about raising taxes, but when it comes to our rights and freedoms, no price is too high to pay.

I agree with John Kennedy when he said, “If by a Liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a Liberal.”

I am also Christian. I am a radical, evangelical, protestant, mystic. I have written elsewhere what this means. I am deeply committed to following the way of Jesus. As a Presbyterian, I am reforming believe in grace through faith, and believe everything you will find in the orthodox creeds. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all and in doing so reconciled all of creation to God. Jesus rose on the third day. The tomb is empty! And this changes everything!

Kathleen Norris said, “The Christian religion asks us to put our trust not in ideas, and certainly not in ideologies, but in a God who was vulnerable enough to become human and die, and Who desires to be present to us in our ordinary circumstances.”

Both of these go into my support of Obama and who I will be voting for in November.

I support and will vote for Obama because I am liberal, but also because I am a deeply committed Christian who wants to live my faith out in a real life way and not just talk about it. Reading, studying, and taking the bible seriously has helped me stand firm with Obama. Deepening my relationship with and stepping out in faith in Jesus has deepened my resolve to say emphatically that Obama is the very best choice as President.

I believe it is better to work for the many and not just the few. I believe it is better to stand by a brave woman than calling her words your mom told you never to use. I believe it is better to find ways to work together than vowing to and working for the failure of someone else. I believe the rich should pay more in taxes. I believe everyone should have access to healthcare. I believe we should help the least among us. I believe in a free society everyone should have the same rights—the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that everyone who wants a good job should have one that the American dream is alive and well.

This is not abstract theories to me. For me, many of these things are realities I face every day. One time I had little hope. I now have hope. Hope of finding that job, a job that will help me step closer to the work I feel called to. Hope of becoming healthier and living a long vibrant life. Hope that America will be great once again and each one of us will find that special person who will make our life more than we thought it could be.

Gregory Boyd in a recent sermon said, “You’ve got 3000 verses about the need to help the poor, you’ve got maybe six that deal with homosexuality… yet you get the impression that people think that God’s number one concern is to curb gay-rights, and it is the gays that are destroying the country, and destroying marriage… I never quite figured out how that one works!?”

“Here is the irony. We have this word sodomy. For the last 300 years, it has been used as synonymous with homosexuality. It comes from the city of Sodom… the belief is that Sodom was destroyed because of homosexuality… But the only text that fleshes out the explicit reason why Sodom was destroyed does not mention homosexuals. What it mentions is greed!”

The text Boyd cited was Ezekiel 16:49-50:“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.”

By saying this, I am not saying that all Christians will agree with me. I am sure there will be some good Christians who will choose the other guy. I only pray and hope that in the end Obama will get four more years.

In the end, I am a social liberal, a deeply committed Christian and yes a romantic, but I believe it is possible and even more I have hope that it will happen.